Unbreakable
by AlphaDelta1001
Summary: Getting picked on and pushed away by everyone around you growing up can really change one's perspective on the world. Tired of all the loneliness and harassment, Naruto decides to take a stand and move forward, intent on changing the way people think of him, no matter how tough and troublesome the road ahead of him will be.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:** While I've been working on _Drifting_, I was once again struck by sudden and unexpected inspiration. This is just a little something I felt like writing in my time editing my other stories.

What if Naruto grew up differently where, instead of pulling pranks to get people to notice him, he got into fights on the streets instead?

Not only does it give him a chance to work on his fighting skills, it also builds his reputation as a fearsome brawler and also changes his attitude towards life, where he first attempts to get people to acknowledge his existence by fighting the kids who bully him. The problem with this though that while he gets good at fighting at an earlier age, people become more wary of him, making that step towards finding friends a little more challenging.

I got the idea from three characters from two of my favorite anime, one being **Seiji 'Mad Dog' Sawamura** from _**Midori Days**_ and **Ryuuhei Sawamura** from _**Hajime no Ippo**_, while I took the model for this Naruto's personality from **Sendo** **Takeshi**. The guy is sort of like Naruto in a very funny, very violent way.

I'll give this idea a swing by to see how it goes.

P.S, the character Yagura that shows up in this chapter is the Yagura that gives Rock Lee a hard time in the _**Third Great Beast Arc**_ of the filler series.

Oh yes, and for those of you wondering about the first message they received, I had to take the first version of this story down and make some changes to it, since I didn't like the way that version was done. So I tweaked the prologue a little and here it is.

* * *

**NARUTO**

**Unbreakable**

_Prologue_

**Konohagakure…**

**Ten years after Kyuubi attack…**

Standing in the middle of a rundown courtyard behind one of Konoha's disused warehouse storage areas, a boy with blonde spiky hair, whiskers on his cheeks, and wearing a blue shirt, a zipped-up, orange vest with the hood pulled over him, and khaki green shorts and blue sandals, could be seen glaring down a taller, much older boy with spiky brown hair, a red shirt with a brown tunic over it, jeans, and wearing a _Konohagakure_ headband above his brow with the village symbol painted over it in kanji reading _Yagura Gang_.

It was also worth noting that the mob affiliated with said symbol was also standing just several feet behind the teen heading the pack, all of them dressed differently from one another, but all of them sporting headbands of various types with the same symbols painted over them. The blonde haired youngster looked over the platoon's worth of troublemakers numbering around two dozen strong, which had him consider the hooligans for a moment before once again focusing on the one who'd lured him all the way out here and the obvious leader of the troop.

The youngster with his hands in his pockets smirked excitedly, "It's been a while since the last time I saw your ugly faces. How've you guys been?"

The older teen standing ahead of his group returned the boy's smile likewise, before responding in a voice that sounded like he was pinching his nose with his fingers, "Pretty good. You seem to be doing quite well for yourself too, Naruto… or should I call you _**Yasei Dōbutsu**_ (Wild Beast)." Simply speaking that title had the leader and his cronies snicker in amusement. "That's rich. Who came up with a shit nickname like that for a brat like you?"

Naruto replied with a grin, "I believe that was Sukima after I beat the snot out of him and his friends when they tried to pick on me. Getting the shit kicked out of you by a Genin isn't exactly the way I wanted to spend my Saturday evening, so I gave him a broken nose, a couple of cracked ribs and a black eye for his troubles." Nodding upwards from under the shade of his hood, the blonde chuckled, "It looks like all of your buddies are doing fine as well. I think I even remember a few of them from that afternoon a few weeks ago."

"Damn right, you little punk."

"You're mincemeat!"

"We're going to make you pay for messing with us the way you did!" the boys jeered.

"And I'd gladly do it again," Naruto said loudly before pulling one hand out from his pocket and rolling his shoulder. "Nobody calls me out and gets away with it."

The head honcho sneered confidently and widened his stance, signaling his friends to follow suit, "You think you can pull a miracle out of your ass like the last two times? Dream on." The delinquent gestured towards the band of other thirteen to fifteen year olds standing behind him with a sharp nod. "There's no way in hell that we're going to let the little brat that we used to mess with push _us_ around. You think you can win? There's twenty-four of us and only one of you!"

"Yeah. There's twenty-three sandbags and one academy dropout," Naruto snorted while his grin and expression intensified. Sizing all of them up, he then gave them a cool smirk, "Now, as far as I can see, this can only go two ways for you guys. One; you walk away. Two; I walk all over your faces." His eyes darkened when he lowered his head and blasted them with killer intent. "Personally, I prefer option two."

The gang's expressions for the most part became serious, with the boss heading the group also frowning deeply. "Don't screw with us, you brat! Wild Beast or not, we're taking you down right here and now!"

Naruto's eyes flashed and he leant forward sharply, "It's option two then. Alright!" Without needing to be told twice, the jinchuriki then exploded from his spot and charged straight at the leader, the blonde grinning maniacally as the two fighters sprinted and met each other halfway. "BRING IT ON, YOU BASTARDS!" His mighty bellow echoed out with righteous fury as his right fist cocked back before shooting forward in a spearing strike. The jinchuriki ducked under the jab the fifteen year old confronting him lead off with, before drilling his antagonist straight in the face with a swift overhand that had the force of a mule's kick behind it.

The punch landed across the bully's face with a deafening crack and blasted the older boy clean off his feet. After a grand journey of a few meters, he then hit the ground, back first with a dull thud. Knocked unconscious, the teen then lay there forgotten with a fist imprint in his cheek, blood dripping out of his nose and eyes crossed from having his brain knocked about like a ball in a cup.

Rushing to his aid, the gang of delinquents charged forward and attacked the blonde haired punk all at once, the one leading the platoon's charge drawing his fist back and yelling at the top of his lungs.

"UZUMAKI!" the hooligan roared, swinging in with a punch of his own, only to receive an uppercut in response that sent him barreling into the guys running up behind him.

As soon as Naruto knocked the second guy down, he saw a third boy rush in at him from up front, wielding a kendo stick that he pulled back and swung down at him with reckless abandon. Reacting quickly, the jinchuriki grinned and blocked the downward attack with his left arm, the stick smashing against his guard and exploding in a shower of splinters. Upon parrying the attack, the blonde then sprang up and nailed his attacker in the face with his lightning fast right cross again, knocking him blasting back with saliva and blood flying from his mouth. Before his body could even touch the floor, Naruto rushed passed him and slipped around another downward blow from another boy wielding a kendo stick. As soon as he evaded, the blonde hiked up the teen's forward leg and struck him down with a roundhouse kick that sent him sliding across the ground on his face, where he too lay in an unconscious heap a second later.

Dropping to the floor, the jinchuriki quickly slipped around a hook thrown by another delinquent before catching the flying wrist. As soon as he did so he spun around his foe, twisting his arm to lock it up behind him before pushing the brute into another incoming attacker, knocking them to the ground before being engaged by three other boys at the same time from all sides. They cut out at him with a wild flurry of punches and kicks, with one of them swinging at the runt in orange with a stick from a broom. But the young jinchuriki effortlessly slipped around the attacks, grinning all the while as he took out one of his attackers with a hook and then spun at the armed punk with an elbow. The blows echoed out with simultaneous loud cracks as he dropped two more adversaries in one go.

Naruto then proceeded to deposit every single one of the ruffians that came at him to the floor within seconds of each other. Left and right they came in swinging, but the jinchuriki expertly singled each of them out and nailed them with kicks, punches and elbows with boxing like finesse. He slipped left and right, overwhelming the gang by swiftly moving between them using deft footwork, speed and raw hitting power.

Tossing one boy over his shoulder and slamming him into the ground, knocking him out, Naruto then spun around and rushed at another approaching delinquent wielding a tenth kendo stick. Before the boy could even swing at his head, the jinchuriki hiked right up his chest before delivering a kick straight into his chin, the blow knocking his target's head upwards in a spray of blood, as well as knocking him to the ground in a single blow.

As soon as he landed, Naruto turned swiftly when he heard a loud yell from behind and saw the last of the hoodlums rushing at him with a haymaker. The jinchuriki slipped around it, at the same time nailing him in the stomach with a knee. After that the blonde hit him with a left cross and a right uppercut, discombobulating and setting the crook up for one last finisher, leaping off of the ground and spinning at his last opponent with a butterfly kick that he slammed straight into his collarbone. The blow smashed the kid into the ground, where he then lay motionless as the jinchuriki landed gracefully following his beautifully executed hit.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, the ten year old blonde then took in the sight of the two dozen plus bodies he'd left scattered about the place, some of them groaning but most of them knocked unconscious, all of which were the result of one of the finest one-sided beat downs in that area of the village. Since it had pretty much taken place behind a rundown and disused storage warehouse, the blonde doubted there would have been many people present to witness it… only the victims.

Rising up under the afternoon sun beating down on him, Naruto surveyed the ground one last time before slipping a hand into his pocket. A smirk appeared on his face a second later, "Are you punks still alive?" The sound of simultaneous groans from some of the downed teenagers was his immediate response. "Then my work here is done."

However, before he could start heading on his merry way, the sound of a new voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Man. You stop for some yakisoba and you miss out on all the fun."

Raising an eyebrow, Naruto looked over his shoulder to see who it was that had spoken up. When he did, he spotted another teenager with long, dingy brown hair, ice blue eyes and wearing a purple, long-sleeved shirt and pants, and a light purple mantle with yellow trim over that, standing inside the open gate. Like the squad leader from before, he also had on a _Konohagakure_ headband with kanji painted over it, identifying him as another academy dropout belonging to the group.

Watching the newcomer drink in the area for a moment, a second smirk formed on the jinchuriki's face. Turning around, Naruto locked onto the teenager in time to see the real leader of the troop saunter over to him, while stepping over the bodies of his fallen comrades.

When the cool looking kid coasted to a stop a few feet away from the jinchuriki, the two teenagers glared each other down.

"Did you just beat up my whole gang?" the boy Naruto identified as Yagura asked curiously.

The jinchuriki chuckled, "Nope. It seems like I missed one."

Looking the boy in the eye, the brown haired boss also sprouted a grin of his own. Rolling his head on his neck and cracking it, he then slid a foot back in preparation. "I'm impressed. Judging from your attire and those whiskers on your face, I'm going to venture a guess that you're the 'Wild Beast' Naruto Uzumaki. Am I right?"

Cracking his knuckles on either hand, the blonde tilted his head curiously, "So what if I am?"

Stepping into a fighting stance, Yagura answered, "Word on the street is that you're a good fighter… able to take down opponents several times your own size and age. I hear you're also quite scary when you're serious." His eyes then narrowed dangerously as he dug his feet into the concrete floor, the sight of him challenging the jinchuriki being watched on by those one or two boys from the group lying across the courtyard who were able to regain consciousness in time. "I'm quite the taijutsu specialist myself. It was the one thing that I passed with flying colors out of the academy before failing in the surprise test. You're not too tired for a second round?"

"Tired? After fighting these losers?" Naruto asked before blowing a raspberry and waving his hand dismissively, "As if." He then set himself into a stance as well, with his fists held up and a smile drawn across his lips. "They weren't even tough enough to be called a warm-up."

Yagura blinked in surprise before putting his amused game face into play. "Since you kicked the crap out of my friends, I'm going to take my time beating _you_ into a bloody pulp."

"Likewise."

Without another word, the two boys then launched themselves at one another at speed, the jinchuriki hooking in with a left jab while the older teen responded with a right cross.

Seconds after the start of the fight, the sounds of heavy thumps and cracks could be heard echoing out across the surrounding streets, a sound that went on for some time, before silence once again fell upon the warehouse district…

OOO

**Later that night…**

**Ichiraku Ramen Stand…**

Sitting at the end of the serving counter with a small smile on his face and a bowl of ramen simmering directly in front of him, an obviously hungry Naruto licked his lips in heavy anticipation of his meal and, not wanting to waster anymore time dillydallying over its supposed deliciousness, decided to dive right on it. Upon tasting the broth and delighting in the noodles that came immediately after that from his chopsticks, the boy savored the sweet sensations of victory washing around in his mouth before swallowing. A satisfied moan escaped his lips as he then breathed out a sigh of delight moments later.

"Oh man, this is great!" He then picked up another helping of noodles along with some sticks of vegetables, which he marinated using the oily broth to give it more flavor for its journey to his stomach, "Nothing beats a serving of Ichiraku's ramen after a long, hard day of work. I've been thinking about this bowl of miso and noodles since morning!" Inhaling another few spoonfuls, the boy gave a childish giggle and looked up over the desk. "Hey, ojisan! This is your best dish yet! Thanks so much!"

Teuchi, the owner of the youngster's favorite establishment, chuckled heartily as his daughter came into view from the back room carrying more ingredients with her. "I can always count on you to enjoy my cooking the most, Naruto-kun. If you want to, maybe you would like to try a free sample of one of the newest items I had added to the menu. It's spicy ramen with pork and fish cakes." Of all the customers he received on a day to day basis, nobody complimented the head chef or viewed him more highly than the whisker-marked blonde in front of him, who treated this place like it was his second home.

The least he could do to reward the kid for his honesty was toss him some compliments of his own.

Throwing his arms out, Naruto grinned ecstatically. "Sure. Why not? Send it my way and I'll give it the Uzumaki seal of approval."

"Whatever you say, kid," Teuchi laughed, tossing another basket of noodles into the hot pot beside him while his daughter collected the empty bowls and payment from previous customers, "One serving of our new number twelve, coming right up."

It was then the peace and serenity of the moment was suddenly shattered by a shocked gasp from Ayame, the girl's exclamation drawing Naruto's attention across the counter to see the girl lean forward and unexpectedly touch his cheek.

"Oh my gosh. Naruto-kun, w-what happened to you?" the normally chipper daughter of the owner asked as she brushed the scratches visible on the jinchuriki's face, "Are you okay?"

Looking up from his work as well, Teuchi saw exactly what had his daughter's immediate concerns when he too caught his first, good glimpse of his best customer's expression. Aside from the surprise the boy received from the sudden attention, it was the fact that he was covered in scuffs and bruises that was the most glaring issue at the moment. He had a cut above his eye that had recently been cleaned and covered in a band-aid, had one across his nose, a black eye that was still healing, and various bruises on his two swollen cheeks, with gauze slapped across his left one and a strip right next to his lip.

From the owners' point of view, it looked like someone had taken a bat to the kid and beaten him down to size. That or he fell repeatedly onto his face for most of the day.

Feeling the gentle touch of Ayame against his skin, Naruto quickly shook her off before trying to hide inside of his bowl of ramen, an annoyed visage coming over him. "I'm fine, Ayame-neechan. Leave me be." And he had been having such a good time too.

Blinking at his immediate dismissal towards his injuries, Ayame frowned and leaned away while folding her arms. "No. You're not fine." Her eyes narrowed angrily when she realized what must have happened, "Don't try to brush this off like it's nothing. You were fighting again, weren't you?"

"Yeah? So?"

"So?" Scrunching her face up irritably at his response, the girl took her dishcloth and slapped it over his head, covering him with it. The fabric falling over his eyes startled the boy out of his reverie and upon pushing it out of the way he saw Ayame scowling down at him disapprovingly. "Naruto-kun, you can't keep getting into random fights with people on the streets, especially with kids who are older and bigger than you are. You're going to get yourself into a lot of trouble if you keep doing that… or worse… you're going to get seriously hurt."

"I get into trouble on a day to day basis, and getting a few bruises in between is just an added bonus. They're just a reminder to duck next time," the jinchuriki shot back, throwing the cloth off of him and grinning up at the girl. "Taking a few hits every now and then is good practice. Besides… _they_ are the ones that started it."

Ayame processed his answer quickly before giving a tired sigh and placing her hands on her hips, shaking her head, "What is it with you and fighting? I just don't understand, Naruto-kun."

"You don't?" the jinchuriki asked, still grinning when he suddenly slammed his hand down on the table declaratively and straightened up, startling a couple of the other patrons over at the other end of the counter. "Come on. It's easy. Fighting isn't just about violence and settling disputes, neechan. It's also a means of measuring a person's worth and mettle. It decides who's the most skilled, who can dodge the best, who's the fastest, who's the strongest, who has the most power in their punch and who can take the other's hit better. 'Test the manliest of men'. That's what fighting is to me."

Hearing his excitement, the waitress sweat-dropped a little at the enthusiasm radiating off of him as he was now standing there beaming at her, having risen from his seat during his string of outbursts. "Don't you think you may be overdoing it a little?"

"Not at all," Naruto replied, rubbing his knuckles against his vest. "If I do anything less, then I wouldn't be able to enjoy myself as much." He then saw the strange look being thrown at him by the girl who often served him at the bar and returned it with a suspicious stare of his own, before leaning forward inquisitively, "Wait… you think I'm just another common ruffian who likes getting into fights?"

Hearing the question and the tone the boy asked it with had the young, secondary owner of the bar jerk upward in surprise before turning away. "W-Well… I uhh…" Ayame murmured uneasily, scratching her cheek while trying to avoid answering the question altogether.

Unfortunately for her, Naruto wasn't going to let her get that reprieve. He was determined to press forward. "Yeah? That's what you're thinking, isn't it? And then I started doing taijutsu naturally, right?"

"Umm, well that's…"

"Well?"

"N-No… that's not what I was thinking at all."

"Really?" Naruto pressured, his eyes narrowing further and brow crinkling. He could feel it coming.

The real answer was right there on the tip of her tongue. He just needed to pry it out.

Giggling a little under the intense waves of intent flooding her way, Ayame then made a small gesture using her thumb and finger indicating a minute about of space. It was this very sign that sealed the deal right then and there. "Maybe… just a little."

"I KNEW IT!" Naruto shouted, slapping his hands on the desk in outrage and scaring the daylights out of both Teuchi and Ayame. The blonde then lent further towards the older girl as he practically clambered onto the table to glare at the waitress giving him the various looks. "Damn it, I hate being misunderstood! Okay. Listen to me very carefully this time Ayame-neechan, because I'm about to tell you the real reason why I fight so much! And it's not because I'm a violent delinquent!" Seeing the girl freeze and start sweating up a storm, the boy sucked in a deep breath of air and, upon positioning himself properly, spoke with absolute certainty and collectiveness in his voice. "It's because… I _love_ to fight. It's as simple as that."

"…"

"…"

"…"

An awkward silence passed over the stand, seconds before Naruto slapped his face in exasperation, "Damn it! I _do_ sound like a ruffian. That's not what I was meant to say." Backing off of the table, the blonde thought over it for a few seconds longer before snapping his fingers and grinning triumphantly across at his audience, who had just now eased up from his many intense exclamations. "Okay then. How about this? If you ask a mountain climber, 'why do you climb', and he answers, 'because the mountain is there', then the reason that I like to fight so much is that, only it applies to what I do and not scaling some ridiculous wall of death."

With that, Ayame stopped trembling like a leaf and thought over his answers for a moment. Taking her chin between her finger and thumb, she along with her father considered the boy's words carefully as the jinchuriki then sat himself back down in his seat and returned to his noodles. When they heard him grunt as he reclaimed his chopsticks, the pair looked over at him a third time, where they saw the child stirring his bowl of noodles with a content smile on his face and sincerity glowing strongly in his eyes.

"To trade blows with another person as an equal, to see who can come out on top and to determine who the strongest and the most skilled is; _that's_ why I love to fight. Even if the odds are stacked against me, I don't care. It gives me a chance to be able to show everyone that I'm not just some stupid, worthless kid. If I become the strongest out of all the shinobi in this village, then the people of this village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like someone who matters, somebody important," Naruto stated, while also picking up some noodles from the bowl. A small laugh followed his response as he gazed sheepishly at the father and daughter. "Not only that, but I also get to hang out with other kids close to my age. Sure, they're not the nicest guys in the world and they hate my guts for kicking the crap out of them, at least I'm not alone all the time."

Hearing these reasons had Ayame nod in understanding as she finally processed what the boy was getting at.

He was a kid that liked to scrap, not just for the fun of it, but because it allowed him to be with other people as opposed to being all alone. While it was not the greatest way to hang out with company, in fact it was a terrible way of hanging out with others, since he didn't have any parents, family or friends; as long as what he did made him happy then she was not going to argue against him. Upon collecting all of the dishes and watching the jinchuriki go back to his meal, the girl spared him one last look and spoke with the smallest of smiles, "Did you at least win?"

Pausing momentarily, a wild grin appeared on Naruto's face followed by a quick nod, "Of course I did! Who do you think I am, neechan?" He turned to look at the girl and drove his thumb into his chest, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. That's who I am."

Returning his determined glow with a cheerful one of her own, Ayame then went out back to do wash-up, leaving Naruto and her father standing at the front and watching the pots of water and broth bubble. Upon seeing the curtains settle in her wake, the middle-aged owner of the store turned towards his best customer again and gave him another look over. Once he did, an amused visage quickly came to his face.

"This is the first time in a long while since I last saw you come into my store with marks like that, kid. Every other time it's just been a bruise to the cheek or a busted lip. Was he tough?" Teuchi asked, genuinely curious as to what kind of delinquent could possibly give the village's most renowned troublemaker those kinds of lumps.

Naruto chuckled and nodded in confirmation, "Oh yeah." That guy Yagura had been crazy strong. He actually had the upper hand for the first half of their fight, but when the jinchuriki finally got his timing down he started beating the shit out of him until he could no longer move.

It was a make or break fight, and Naruto, through hell and high water, had made it to the top of the food chain.

"Who was it this time?"

"The boss of a group who used to push me around and beat me up when I first got out of the orphanage," the youngster replied, as if the whole ordeal had just been a casual thing. After countless fights with teenagers on the streets and a couple of punk Genin who wanted to bully him, you would be surprised how laidback you got about these sorts of things. It didn't bother him at all though. "Yagura: tall, brown hair, didn't make it past the final Genin exam, and fights using kenpo. I gotta say… it's been a few months since I last fought a dropout who could use that style. He quit going to the academy when his team didn't make the cut-off and formed the gang."

"I see," Teuchi murmured, folding his arms and nodding his head approvingly, "So you went and got a little payback for all the weeks they spent kicking you around. I assume this was the first time you fought the boss."

"Uh-huh. The guy was seriously tough. But now that I've beaten Yagura and his gang, that makes me the strongest street kid in the entire village," Naruto informed, looking quite proud of himself when he looked back up at the man and puffed his chest out, at the same time shaking his fist that had a few welts around the knuckles. "Not a single one of those punks will ever mess with me again. If they do, I'll just beat them up some more. I've claimed their turf as my own and I'm never giving it back, dattebayo."

"I doubt this will sit too well with the folks at the academy though," Teuchi added, getting the jinchuriki to simultaneously drop his chopsticks back into his bowl and summon a proverbial raincloud above his head, which began to drizzle down on him in a clear show of displeasure. "Your classmates especially."

"Ugh. Yeah. That's true."

"It's give and take in this world, kid. You can't have one thing without giving up the other, unless you can somehow make it happen and get both. Then you would be set for life." Grinning cheekily, the old man leant forward and poked him in the shoulder, resting against the desk as he engaged the youngster in another round of good-natured banter, "Well… give it some time and I'm sure things will start looking up for you. Nobody's bad luck can last forever."

"Yeah," Naruto mumbled, going back to stirring his bowl absently while turning to glance at the old man again, a wry grin popping up, "I just need to keep trying to connect with people, no matter how many times I get shot down. And if my fortune doesn't pick up anytime soon, I'll always have good, old-fashioned perseverance to fall back on, right?"

"That's the spirit."

As well as being a connoisseur of fine ramen, the man also took his time to listen to the numerous problems experienced by his customers. It was like working at an actual bar with alcohol as the main product being sold. You'd be surprised how many of those troubled cases he had duck into here from the other side of those curtains.

The kid across from him that fought with every aspect of life, regardless of its physical value, just happened to be one of them.

XXX

**The very next morning…**

Unfortunately for Naruto the day his luck would eventually start to pick back up would not be today. Because, for what felt like the hundredth time in a row, he found himself in complete and utter isolation in a room filled with kids his age, as the young jinchuriki sat at the very edge of the hall, right next to the window, playing with his thumbs as every other kid in the class had quite literally moved to sit and chat on the other side. This meant that the small row that he was occupying on his side of the isle, the seats in front of him and behind him, were pretty much empty.

It was a really cold and unforgiving spot. A physical void if he could describe it in any way. But hey, it could've been worse.

"Hey, did you hear? Naruto beat up another group of kids the other day," a boy whispered.

"Really? Were they older or younger than him?" another voice asked in surprise.

"Older. It was Yagura's gang."

"Holy crap. Aren't some of those guys supposed to be academy dropouts from, like, three years ago?"

"Yeah. And the Wild Beast beat every single one of them."

"Somebody should lock him up," a girl whispered.

"Shh, don't say that so loud. He'll hear you."

"Yeah but, look at him. He gives me the creeps."

Eye-twitching in a very animated way, the jinchuriki then gave a groan of frustration and allowed his head to slump forward as the streams of familiar whispers flooded over him. Since almost the entire class was there and he was sitting inside a chamber that was pretty much designed to echo for the lecturer's voice to be able to reach every ear and corner of the place, the fact that they were all trying to keep their voices at the lowest decibel possible wasn't really helping him much. He could still hear every single thing they were saying about him.

Appearing a bit dismayed, the boy then grinned a little and shrugged, _"Well… at least they're talking about how good I am. That's a plus, right?"_ It was a comfort he was hoping to derive from the stench of fear wafting in his general direction.

To be completely honest though, his current situation wasn't that much of an improvement from his last one.

Not too long ago, about a couple of years by his estimate, Naruto remembered how everyone in the village had just plain, straight-up ignored him whenever he was around. Everywhere he went, no matter where and what time of day it was, the orphanage, around the academy, public venues, the streets, shops, restaurants… every single person he'd ran into or passed by on the main highways had gone to great lengths to keep their eyes trained on anything else but him. Every villager would just keep their attentions fixed on a distant horizon and practically pay him little to no mind, like he was just part of the scenery, and whenever they _did_ look at him it was always with the same, cold stare filled with loathing and disgust.

The culmination of every villager participating in this act made it feel like Naruto was nothing more than a ghost to them; someone who didn't exist and wasn't even part of the world.

His interactions with other people from what he could recall of his years spent in the orphanage and the days when he finally left the institute had been close to zero, until a couple of years ago when kids started beating him up for 'wandering onto their turf'. They saw him as easy prey and someone they could pick on, a plaything for their amusement and something to just pass the time until they got bored. The reason they'd kept on doing so was because Naruto purposefully went out of his way to cross paths and start trouble with them over and over again, because the delinquents and gangs he ran into in the alleys and streets actually acknowledged his presence in a way, even if it was for a bad thing.

Before Naruto knew it, getting into fights with the troublemakers and rogue mobs wandering around the village became an absurdly fun and almost regular occurrence for him, and soon he got so good at fighting that not even a whole group of people were able to cause anymore problems for him. Hell, even Genin level kids who were two years ahead of him in the department were no longer an issue.

He was able to ward off the bullies and make a name for himself as a strong, powerful brawler who could take down multiple armed opponents within seconds. The only problem was, as a side effect of his violent interactions with the various gangs in an effort to get people to acknowledge his existence, the adults and kids from his neighborhood and class became more wary and scared of him. People in the hidden leaf started misunderstanding him, viewing him as someone who got his kicks beating up on others, a violent kid who acted out regularly and someone who was, to put it simply, a bad influence.

This was the main reason why Naruto felt like he'd traded one unpleasant experience with the regular villagers for another that was just as bad. Even though the only people who approached him and recognized his presence in any way were bullies and delinquents wanting to fight him, the father and daughter of the Ichiraku ramen stand and about two other faces, for the most part everybody else just gave him an extremely wide berth.

Actually, the distance between him and other people seemed to have increased a little more from what he could remember.

His social life on the surface with the general populace had really taken a nosedive in the past months. The only reason he'd been able to keep it together so far was because he was actually experiencing _real_ human contact on a day to day basis, most notably the comfort he received from Teuchi and Ayame, and the bruises he got from the troublemakers he fought.

"_But it's not like __**this**__ is any better from my previous situation,"_ Naruto thought in a disgruntled tone, sighing again before turning to look at the kids sitting or standing on the other side of the room. The moment he turned to them however, every single set of eyes that had previously been locked onto him turned away, and heads and voices were lowered to a deathly silence. The sight prompted the blonde to fold his arms on the desk in front of him in childish annoyance and rest his head on top of them. _"Damn it. This sucks."_

As much as he tried to not let this get to him, it was still incredibly grating.

"Did you see his eyes?"

"Yeah. I did."

"He really _is_ scary."

Naruto shut his eyes and closed his ears, deciding to take a nap until the voices of his peers eventually ebbed.

A few seconds after putting his head down, the door to the classroom opened up and the stirring within the classroom ceased when Iruka strolled into view, clipboard under his arm and his game face on. "Alright everyone, take your seats. It's time to start the lesson. What the heck are all of you doing on this side anyway?" He then stopped when he noticed Naruto sitting on the other side, which quickly answered the Chunin's question and brought a small smile to his face._ "Oh. Of course. The infamous 'Wild Beast' is in the house. Geez."_ An amused glint flashing across his eyes, Iruka adjusted his headband before depositing his stuff onto his desk. "Come on. Don't dillydally. Pick a spot and plant yourselves there. Chop-chop!"

Hesitantly, every student in the class slowly made their way to a row. Those who were quick enough were able to get seats as far away from Naruto as possible, while those 'unfortunate' to secure them next to the troublemaker resigned themselves to their fates. Of course, everyone who wound up sitting near him kept as many feet away from the 'scary blonde delinquent' as they could, during which time they would also pass him a few worried glances.

"Glad to see you were able to make it today, Naruto," Iruka chirped in greeting, seeing the boy sit up and look at him in surprise. "Didn't get up to much this weekend?"

Processing the man's question, the jinchuriki grinned and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Oh, you know, just… stuff. Long walks around the village, studying at home… the usual." He reminded himself to eat a bar of soap at the end of the day because all of that was just a load of horse shit.

All he did on the weekend of any significance was run some errands, bump into some old acquaintances, and kicked the living daylights out of them.

However, he didn't want to say that in front of the rest of the class for fear of incurring more bad press and adding it to his already hit-and-miss popularity and standing amongst his peers.

Iruka chuckled, "Right. Well, as long as you're here and not causing trouble out there, then that's good enough for me." Giving the boy one last look over and taking in the band-aids he was still wearing on his already healed face, which he'd forgotten to take off, he then moved on with his lesson and started teaching his class like he would any normal day.

As far as he was concerned, it was just like every other day.

OOO

The lessons for that morning and into the afternoon went on business as usual. It was so ordinary in fact that the entire ordeal kind of had Naruto question the actual purpose of his being there. But after some careful consideration and thought, the boy was able to reason with himself that because this was all educational stuff and not practical material he could physically learn with his body, it was only logical the day started off so bland and lifeless. It was the routine of the world.

Naruto did his best to blend in with the rest of the students like he was actually part of the group, despite his obvious position amongst them, and put forward all of his effort into absorbing the drawl that escaped Iruka's lips. It was pretty much all the normal hooray involved with their studies here in becoming future shinobi of their village. The jinchuriki tried his hardest to listen and take in everything the man had to say, but would every so often drop out to consider some of his own problems.

When the bell for recess rang later that day, Naruto tried not to flinch at how quickly people seemed to retreat from his side. For the sake of business and respect to their teacher, they'd put up with his presence throughout all of the lessons in the first half of the day. The second the call for a break resounded throughout the building it didn't take long for the kids fearful of him to head out the door and return to their friends.

The only person who really lagged behind out of the entire class was, Sasuke, whom threw his usual, emotionless stare the jinchuriki's way before deciding to take his leave.

Though Naruto found it strange that every time class left the Uchiha would hang back for a few seconds longer to consider him for a moment, he quickly dismissed it as the guy just being weird. He didn't even let it dawn on him for any longer than a few ticks before the blonde went out to get recess as well. Just like every other day, he took to walking the grounds of the academy while eating the rice cakes or pork buns he often brought for his breaks. During which time he would also go off and try his luck to hang out with the other boys and girls.

Eventually finding his way over to one of the more popular clearings outside of the school building, Naruto waited beside one of the trees on the edge watching a few of the students playing ball with one another. In spite of the fact that they were supposed to be shinobi in training, they were still kids who enjoyed all the little things in life, including activities of this nature that didn't involve hurling knives at targets.

For as far back as he can remember Naruto only had the pleasure of watching the kids playing from a distance. It was something he'd done both before and after his reputation changed, and his name started to associate with a less reputable crowd. But today he wanted to try something different and, finding the right time to interject, walked over to them with his hands in his pockets and hood pulled back to show his face as per the norm.

He stopped when he got within reach and speaking distance of them. The kids didn't even notice he was standing there with them on the grass until a few seconds later, with all of them jumping away with a start when he just appeared out from behind one of them.

Grinning cheerfully towards his five classmates, the boy waved pleasantly. "Hey, do you need an extra guy?"

Stammering and looking between each other, Tobio, who was heading up the group in their game, rubbed his head and smiled nervously towards the jinchuriki. As he did so, the other kids behind him started backing down little by little at the 'terrifying' look they were getting from the blonde, even though he was just trying to appear his normal, friendly self. "S-Sorry… Naruto… uhh… we… already have _five_ players… and we want to keep it an even number."

Blinking in confusion, Naruto rubbed his chin and looked down thoughtfully for a moment. After which he then panned back up. "Hey! Wait a second. Five isn't an even nu-" By the time he'd turned to face the group again, all of the kids had run off, leaving him standing there with an unfinished sentence.

While they were dashing away, Naruto heard their voices drift back over to him.

"Did you see the way he was looking at us?"

"I know. That was scary, man."

"We need to be a lot more careful from now on, otherwise he might attack us."

Unable to get another word in as they were now long gone, Naruto's expression developed a frown and a disappointed tick. Head dropping and hands in his pockets, he kicked the ground irritably and went off on his own. "Damn." Maybe somewhere else a group of other kids was willing to include him. The problem with that though, was that he had no idea which group.

It had always been like this for him, ever since the orphanage. The children would run away or keep their distance whenever he came by, regarding him with extreme caution and concern. Even if he just wanted to ask them something or ask for direction they would always scamper off. All of this hassle and fruitless searching eventually led to Naruto going over to his favorite tree outside the academy building and sitting under it, where he would then absently push the tire swing from side to side and watch the other children have their fun until the bell for the end of recess sounded.

The same could be said for his lunch period too. As hard as he tried, he always came back to the classroom empty-handed and feeling a little miserable. But this didn't mean he was done trying to get close to his peers.

He was far from giving up at this point.

Eventually, the time came for everyone in school to clock out. When the final bell rang, every student inside the building returned home. The one who lagged behind the longest out of all of them this time was Naruto, who sat in class until everyone had cleared out before picking up his notebook and slowly trudging out of the room. However, the moment he exited into the hallway, he saw Iruka standing outside and waiting for him with an expectant look on his face.

The sight of the Chunin surprised the jinchuriki, but the boy had a feeling he knew exactly why the instructor was out there. After all, everybody had been talking about it.

It wasn't that big of a stretch to think that Iruka had heard about it too.

"Okay… if this is about me beating up a group of idiots yesterday in the storage house district, I just want to say Iruka-sensei that… they had it coming." Right. So the first words in his defense weren't going to help him in any court. He basically confessed to the fact that he was wholeheartedly responsible for hospitalizing a group of fifteen year olds all by himself, and got a few decent bruises in return for his efforts. However, this being Iruka, it was next to impossible for the boy to hide anything from his discipline prone, eagle-eyed teacher, who somehow had this weird sixth sense about what Naruto did in his off time outside of class. With that in mind, the jinchuriki threw both his arms out and sighed. "Go ahead. Lay it on me. Just promise me that it'll be quick."

Shaking his head at the kid's willingness to surrender to him, the Chunin stepped forward and placed a hand on top of his head. His gesture had the blonde blink in confusion at his instructor, before he eventually spoke. "You didn't get hurt too badly, did you, Naruto?"

The jinchuriki stared incredulously for a moment and dropped his hands, "Huh? What was that?"

"I'm asking whether or not you got hurt in that fight," Iruka repeated with a warm smile in play. "You don't normally wear so many band aids to my class unless the scrap you got into was a rough one. You're normally a lot more careful than that. So I just want to know…"

Blinking, Naruto quickly processed the fact that the man wasn't scolding him yet and that he was actually asking him about whether or not he was okay. A little bit surprised by the switch, the boy stiffened a little and massaged his head anxiously, "I just got hit in the face a few times, Iruka-sensei. That's all. Just another one versus twenty in a courtyard."

The man tilted his head, "You against twenty other kids. Wow. That's impressive." He placed his hands on his hips and grinned. "But I guess that's nothing for you, isn't it? Nothing that the 'Wild Beast' of _Konohagakure_ can't handle."

"Y-Yeah…" Naruto mumbled, expression becoming a bit more downtrodden as he breathed a sigh of vexation.

Seeing his face turn gloomy and his eyes reflecting a bit more disappointment then they normally would, even though his posture and gestures didn't, the Chunin considered him quietly for a second before scrubbing his own neck uneasily. After giving it some further thought, another smile came upon him and he leant forward to gaze down at the youngster properly. "Hey… if you're not meeting up with anyone tonight, how about we go get some dinner?" He saw the blonde's eyes shoot up towards him, earning an encouraging grin from the scar-faced teacher. "I feel like some ramen tonight. How about you?"

At that, Naruto's expression almost instantly cheered up and he nodded his head vigorously, "Yeah! Definitely!"

Wow. It was like the whole social outcast and labeling had never even occurred to him.

Iruka chuckled and began walking down the hall, quickly followed by his student who immediately fell in step with him. "Alright. The first round's on me."

"Awesome. Thanks, Iruka-sensei."

OOO

**That afternoon…**

For the next hour or so, Iruka sat alongside Naruto at Ichiraku's Ramen bar, where he was then indulged not only in the aromas of the store itself, but in the story of the jinchuriki's encounter with Yagura's band of cronies and the big man himself the day before. With Teuchi and his daughter standing on the other side and cooking, and the Chunin hanging onto every word his student had to say, the now reinvigorated blonde had no problems in telling him all about the event.

Needless to say, it was quite an exhilarating story.

"So they bumped into you on the streets… and told you to meet up with them at the warehouse area because they wanted to 'talk to you'?" Iruka repeated, seeing Naruto nod affirmatively as he inhaled another length of noodles. The Chunin gave an understanding gesture as he too slurped up the noodles hanging from his mouth and chuckled, "Heh. It was obviously a setup so that they could gang up on you and try to beat you up again… but you still went anyway."

"Yep," Naruto responded with a proud smile. "They asked me to meet them there, so I went. It's no big deal. If they had something they needed to say to me, then they would just come out and say it." Oh yeah. They definitely came out and said it. All he did afterwards was offer them a response in kind when he realized their true intentions.

Iruka smiled and stirred the contents of his bowl. "I guess you can't help it sometimes. A lot of kids in places don't know what to do with themselves when they're bored, so they form groups and go out looking for trouble. The same can be said for the kids from the academy who weren't able to make it through the Genin exams. Instead of going back for another try, some of them just drop out and kill time however they can."

This had the jinchuriki chuckle, "Man. I sure hope _I_ don't fail in the final exams. I've been killing myself for months just to get this far."

"Yeah. I can tell," Iruka agreed, knowing full well how determined the kid next to him was. "You're a strong kid and a hard worker. You're good at physical activities and you always do your best in class, even in the stuff you don't know. Just keep doing what you're doing, focus on your jutsu and your studies, and I'm sure you'll pass with flying colors." After several moments of silence and slurping up the ramen from their second servings, the instructor then gave the youngster a bit of a lopsided smile. "Still having trouble getting along with the rest of the class?"

Naruto groaned at that, a sour expression falling over his face. "Yeah." He took to glaring ahead of him, ignoring the small chuckle of amusement that his teacher gave. "This bites. I try to come off as friendly, but everyone just keeps running away from me because they think I'm going to punch them or something. It makes me want to go chase after them when they do."

Wait. That didn't come out right.

Whatever.

Obviously sulking, Naruto then turned to look at his teacher again. "Do I look like someone that would just randomly walk up to a person on the street and punch them in the face?"

Opening his mouth to respond, Iruka then stopped when he thought about it some more and made a hesitant, wishy-washy gesture. "Kinda-sorta."

At that point Naruto decided to slam his head down on the counter, rattling the utensils and getting Teuchi and Ayame to look across at him in worry. The next words that came out following his collapse was expressed in low grumbles, but not before he let out a loud groan of mock dismay, "This is annoying. When I wasn't getting into fights for fun, nobody wanted to talk to me or have anything to do with me. But then when kids started picking on me, and I started hitting back and making myself into something else, people take it the wrong way and back off even more. What am I doing wrong?"

It was a tough question. Iruka knew this well. After all, a lot of Naruto's past experiences and childhood mirrored his in a lot of ways, except instead of pulling pranks and coming off as the class clown to get attention in the academy, the jinchuriki chose to become a fighter and build up a reputation, as well as his skills. While their positions were similar, their transitions into getting people to recognize their existences differed.

This was why Iruka spent a lot of his time chatting with Naruto and looking out for him. Even though he was a tough kid and liked getting into scraps, he was still just a child, one who was desperately looking for normal human interactions, in spite of the way he seemed to shrug off the need.

Deciding to offer his own two-cents on the matter, the instructor patted his student on the back and gripped his vest somewhat, "Maybe you're being a little too aggressive in your approach." Seeing the blonde sit up at this, Iruka beamed. "While it's good to be confident and to smile a lot to others, you also have to consider your reputation and standing amongst your peers. A lot of the kids may not be aware that you're a nice guy and that you just want to be friends with them. You should play to your strengths. Show them that you mean well and that you don't intend to hurt them. Move slowly, show some restraint, and give them reasons to like you and to start trusting you." He then gestured towards him with his chopsticks, pinching them together twice. "One step at a time, Naruto. That's how you should do it."

The jinchuriki straightened up, blinking across at the man, "You think so?"

"Yes. And it wouldn't hurt you to stop getting into so much trouble either," the man mock-growled while flicking him in the ear, causing the blonde to wince and rub the affected area. "Ease up a little on the fighting and try to have a normal life. Focus your time and energy on something else… something more constructive." Seeing the boy look at him in displeasure with clear signs of wanting to protest, Iruka quickly continued so that he could avoid the inevitable argument. "Now don't give me that look. If you want to have a chance of making friends you have to start making some changes in your life, and that also means sacrificing a few things. You can keep fighting to improve your skills and to increase your strength, just… keep the public brawls to a minimum from now on, alright."

He was saying this because, even though he was the boy's teacher, there was only so much he could do for him. Outside of class, there were always going to be things that happened that were beyond his control and authority, and fighting amongst children that weren't from the academy was one of them. Though it was a frowned upon practice in a community setting, even in a shinobi village where relationships and normalcy was greatly encouraged by the ones running the place, fighting out in public wasn't outlawed.

If it was then all shinobi training that was physically based would be band as well… probably… and that would be extremely counterproductive.

Though he wanted to dispute the man, since fighting was in his blood and something he loved to do, Naruto took a minute to think about what was said to him some more. Reasoning with himself that in order for him to start making friends with the other kids in his class that he needed to change his image a little more, as well as his approach, he then relented on his stand against the Chunin and slowly returned to his ramen.

Answer in hand and a smile on his face, Naruto nodded to his teacher's words in understanding. "If you think it will help, then I'll try to reframe from getting into more fights outside of class, Iruka-sensei. Though I can't make any promises that it'll be easy," the blonde responded with a wide grin on his face. "I still intend to get stronger… and there's no changing that. I just need to work on polishing my skills some other way."

Satisfied, Iruka nudged him in the side and beamed at him once more. "That's all I wanted to hear."

Really. It was.

Though Iruka was concerned that the kids in Naruto's class would be so scared of him by the end of his academy days that any attempts to form a solid Genin team with him in the future would really hamper his performance, he was more concerned about Naruto's wellbeing in general. After all, he didn't want the kid to grow up alone and go home disappointed every day. He needed friends… _real_ friends.

Even when Iruka tried his best to fill in that void in the boy's life because he saw a good kid in him, the truth was he wouldn't be there to look out for him all the time.

Naruto needed a companion his age he could trust, have fun with and talk to daily.

Knowing who he really was under his tough and incredibly gallant visage, Iruka strongly believed that the teen would be able to pull through somehow. It would just take a little more time, effort and a little more positive reinforcement. Kami knows that he needed it.

"By the way, Naruto," Iruka spoke up again, looking at the troublesome youngster with a curious smirk. "How are you doing with the _Bunshin no Jutsu_ (Clone Technique)? I know you've got the _Henge no Jutsu_ (Transformation Technique) down pat, but your last test involving the clone technique was just awful…"

This had Naruto frown animatedly and glare ahead of him in a distasteful manner, as he remembered his poor performance in class all too well. "It's… It's getting there, sensei. I've been practicing with it a lot. The last clone I made at home a couple days ago actually turned out to be pretty good."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"It was terrible, wasn't it?"

"…"

"…"

"Yeah."

Cue proverbial raincloud and incoming storm.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**Author's Note:** So that's it. Naruto is a kid who loves getting into fights because it was one of the only things that allowed him to interact with people after being alone for so long and having no one to talk to.

But even though he's able to interact with some people, he still wants to make real friends. However, thanks to his history in the village as a brawler, which spawned a lot of bad rumors about him, it makes it a lot more difficult for him to get closer to others.

Since the next _Drifting_ chapter is taking a while to edit, I decided to write this just to clear my head a little.


	2. An Interesting First Encounter

**Author's Note:** Now I know everyone is waiting eagerly for Drifting to be updated. If anyone is wondering, I'm currently going through exams and am trying to write several chapters ahead before posting more for my stories. I'll try and update it as quickly as possible, but for the time being, here is the second chapter to _Unbreakable_.

* * *

**NARUTO**

**Unbreakable**

_An Interesting First Encounter_

**Two and a half weeks later…**

Just like he promised to Iruka, Naruto went on to try and turn over a new leaf in his life.

In order to avoid getting into confrontations and causing problems for the locals, the jinchuriki had started the not-so-easy task of evading the various alleyways and kids he'd had less than agreeable encounters with in the past. Though he did pass the abovementioned troublemakers on the streets every now and again following his little heart to heart chat with his teacher at the ramen stand, in an effort to dodge any possible conflicts, disagreements and alike, he tried not making any eye contact with them and just overtook them without a second thought or care.

But even when he did do that, it failed to escape the blonde's notice that some of those kids he remembered scraping with in the shadows and parks made sure to step well out of his way whenever he came by…

…just like every other villager he encountered on the streets on a daily basis.

So now, instead of receiving _some_ acknowledgement from the public in the form of exciting fist fights and epic battles in the background, he was receiving none at all for just being in the same breathing space.

It was a harsh and depressing reality, but that was the price he was willing to pay.

No doubt it was tough getting used to breaking his routine in the past two weeks, but Naruto was adamant on starting out fresh. He wanted to make good on his word in approaching people with nothing but the intent of being nice and making friends. However, thanks to his poor standing with the population before and after he became a street fighting firebrand and the fear that manifested from his reputation as the 'Wild Beast', his task of making companions seemed like a near impossibility in his eyes.

This was further accentuated when he walked down the main road that morning for the academy and everyone he passed moved over to the side of the road, at least those who could help it. Those who couldn't, most notably the villagers behind the counters of stalls, remained where they were as the jinchuriki breezed into their midst, paying him not so much as a glance as he sauntered on. The blonde nevertheless ignored them and kept his gaze trained forward, knowing full well that no matter what, sooner or later he was going to change their perspectives on him.

When he finally got to school to start the day, business went by as usual. This consisted of his habit of getting to the classroom, sitting in his seat by the window, and watching the other students file in one at a time, only to hang back to one end of the room. Out of the vast majority that chose to keep their distance from him like they were under some sort of restraining order, the only people who treated him with any form of casual indifference and sat anywhere within speaking distance of him were Sasuke, Shikamaru and Shino, with the former not really caring, the Nara just wanting to get some peace and quiet in one of the empty spaces provided, and the Aburame because… well… he was just weird.

After that, when Iruka finally arrived on the scene to get everything in order, he made sure that everyone was properly seated so that the lesson could get underway. That morning had them talking about battlefield strategy and conflicts that had been fought between shinobi in the past utilizing the same basic concepts. The lesson went by normally without anything out of the ordinary taking place, save for the teacher having to stop short to wake Shikamaru up when the kid went off and fell asleep. It was then after the first hours ticked by, the bell for recess inevitably sounded and everyone quickly headed off to eat.

Following another failed attempt to interact with the other kids, Naruto and the rest of his class then retreated to the courtyard outside the academy for taijutsu practice. The ring was basically a white square drawn across a flat, dirt plain with a wire fence dividing the school grounds from the village streets beyond it. Lining up alongside the mini arena, the students stood shoulder to shoulder as their instructor then drew up a list of his class and his infamous marking pen. He counted each of them to make sure they were all there, before proceeding with the second lesson for the day.

What followed consisted of a lot of one-on-one matches using the same combat etiquette hammered into their heads for the past couple of years since starting taijutsu practice. Iruka made extra certain that everybody gave each other the _Sign of Confrontation_ at the start of each bout and the _Sign of Reconciliation_ at the end of each match respectively. It was all business as usual for the most part, including the 'fight' that saw Sasuke utterly dominate his opponent with a swift take-down. Eventually however, the kids were then hurried off the field for lunch, leaving Naruto standing in the same spot with his hood pulled over and hands in his pockets like he was just part of the backdrop.

In the end he didn't wind up competing like the others. For the sake of improving his reputation and not hospitalizing his opponent in case he went a little too far in the practice match, Naruto threw in the towel just like Shikamaru did in every one of his sessions. This allowed him free reign during lunch period, in which he took to wandering the main training area of the academy with the obstacle course nearby.

Dumplings in hand, the youngster maneuvered around the stumps absently while looking at the target range across the way. Chewing on the pork roll and thinking quietly to himself, he then became engrossed in the ropes wrapped tightly around one of the larger hitting posts and stood before it curiously. Upon looking it over and seeing how it was position, he then shrugged, set his lunch down, and practiced striking it lightly.

Punching and kicking the target repeatedly, his blows rattled the stump from top to bottom, filling the area with the sounds of loud thumps and thuds. After a minute or so of stretching his legs and warming up his arms, in a manner of speaking, Naruto then threw a right straight and smacked the binding rope hard. Hearing the wood crack and seeing it split before his very eyes, he pulled his fist away and looked down at it.

Pondering over the feelings of contact for a moment and contemplating his task, the youngster sighed and shook his head in disappointment.

"It's just not the same," Naruto mumbled.

He preferred it when his targets tried to fight back and allowed him to mercilessly pummel them into submission.

While the young upstart was massaging his knuckles and considering his choices for the better part of his brief, five minute reprieve, he failed to notice a shinobi of the village walking past that part of the academy along the nearby footpath. Though the man wasn't a regular member of staff of the school, mostly filling in for one or two of the lessons whenever his assistance was required in the academy, the man was purely there for business that day and was merely passing through to get to his intended destination. However, when he noticed one of the academy students standing over by the hitting stumps all by himself the Jonin stopped to look over and watch out of curiosity.

Cigarette hanging from his lips and smoke gently wafting off of it, the bearded individual blinked when he then saw the boy, with his back turned to him, scrutinize his hands for some strange and unexplained reason.

Nothing happened beyond that point for the next few seconds. However, after clenching and unclenching his fist a couple of times, Naruto finally decided on a course of action to take to break the monotony of the moment and, smirking, cocked his knuckle and sent it hooking straight into the post, a loud 'whoosh' sound echoing out from the power he exerted.

A sharp and violent 'bang' then echoed out when he struck the post with his punch, denting the massive piece of wood at the ropes while also sending it shooting across the field from the spot it had been propped up. It flew a grand distance of about eight to ten meters before bouncing and slamming into the wire fence at the back of the field fifteen meters away. The barrier that served as the boundary between the training area and the village cushioned the airborne post and, though it did indeed stop it, the impact of the stump still left quite an impression in its side.

When the dust settled, an imprint of a small fist could be seen clearly embedded in the very front of the target.

Grinning at sending the hitting post away with a single blow, Naruto then looked down at his fist once again and pumped it triumphantly. "Hey. That was pretty fun."

It was settled.

Time for target number two!

Seeing the cloud of excess rest from the explosive hit, the Jonin standing on the sidelines raised an eyebrow in interest as he then watched the boy move on to the second training item; a wooden man target. Hands still in his pockets, the bearded individual stepped around to face the field more completely as he then proceeded to study the sideshow.

"_That kid's got a pretty decent swing,"_ the Jonin thought, clearly impressed at what he was witnessing. And here he was just heading up to the main building for a meeting and to get some of his boring paperwork out of the way. But cutting across the training grounds of the main facility with no reason other than to get to his intended destination, he actually ran into something quite fascinating.

He then went on to watch the boy approach the next target and, after assuming the position, did the exact same thing to the wooden man as he did its predecessor, only with his left. The Jonin cracked a smile at the sight of the second target that had been setup with sandbags barrel the short distance over the field before smacking into the wire wall. _"And his hitting power is easily above average for a kid his age. He could take down people twice his size with a single punch."_

"Hey, Asuma-chan."

Hearing his name called as well as the honorific jab at the end of it, the man turned to see another face heading him up on the same footpath. Long, purple hair tied into a high ponytail, khaki trench coat worn over a fishnet uniform, combat skirt and shin guards in full view, Tokubetsu Jonin and exam proctor Anko, who was also walking to the academy for a meeting, stopped beside the taller man blocking the road and looked at him curiously. Despite her appearance and her opening greeting, the man didn't respond beyond a murmur and a glance.

"What are you doing out here? Did you get lost on the way to the bathroom or something?" the woman teased.

Smirking, Asuma turned back to the training field and gestured to it with a nod, "No. I just stopped here to watch a rather interesting performance. Check it out."

Doing as directed, Anko turned to look towards the training stumps as well, where she saw the blonde haired ten-year-old with the hood pulled up hanging around the posts. At first finding the sight a little bit peculiar, the kunoichi then saw exactly why the youngster had the elite Jonin's gaze when she watched the child smash the thick post with a kick and send it tumbling across the field with a deep indent in its side and its base snapped from its previous spot wedged into the ground.

Needless to say, the woman also voiced her intrigue at the raw display of power with a whistle.

"Nice kick."

"Tell me about it. I was just heading up to the office to see gramps about my previous mission report, but then I spotted this rascal out here messing around with the equipment," Asuma replied, pulling his cigarette out and flicking the ashes off. "I have to say… he has some wicked taijutsu skill."

Case in point, the pair then saw the kid rattle the next wooden training dummy with a few brisk combinations. Easily denting the frame with his various punches and kicks, he then drilled the stump with a twisting shot, which ripped it spinning from its supports and across the field. Though it didn't reach the end, it still had one hell of a flight when it bounced across the ground and kicked up dust. The sounds Naruto had made when he hammered the thing sounded like someone knocking down a tree with an axe.

Chuckling excitedly, the hooded upstart then sprang over to the next one. Not wanting to waste time on formalities, he drew his fist back and with a mighty yell, drilled the post with a straight that tore it out of the ground and sent it flying into the fence. The airborne trunk crashed into the wire and bent the fence's metal post over the dirt road, where the human-sized projectile shuddered to a stop.

"Yosh," Naruto said, pumping a fist proudly. "That was awesome. Maybe I can set them up one after the other and see if I can domino them."

Unfortunately, before he could move forward with any of his plans for a second bout, a series of footsteps stopping directly behind him had the child cut short his thinking and spin around to investigate the anomaly. Finding his gaze staring directly into a shinobi vest, the youngster then looked up to see a large man with dark hair and beard staring down at him. Not at all intimidated by the man's sudden appearance, despite the fact he was so big that his frame was practically blocking out the entire view of the sun, the jinchuriki merely looked up at him and stood firmly under his gaze. "Hey?"

Staring at the kid for a moment, Asuma allowed an amused grin to cross his face before rolling his cigarette around and gesturing towards the field, "You do realize you're going to have to clean this up before any of your teachers see this."

Turning to see the damages he'd caused for himself and the fence he'd bent from throwing one of the heavy training posts into it, Naruto groaned and punched the air, "Ah, damn it. I didn't think about that." Moving the stumps back into place wouldn't be a problem for him. No. It was fixing the fence he quickly became most concerned about. "Man. Iruka-sensei is going to be pissed."

"Well, I suggest you get right to it before lunch ends, otherwise you're going to have one hell of a long afternoon cleaning classrooms and scrubbing toilets," Asuma replied with an amused smirk, getting the blonde to glance in his direction again. Upon slipping his hands into his pockets, the Jonin nodded toward him, "You've got some pretty wicked punches and kicks in your arsenal, kid. Your physical strength and dexterity is really impressive."

"Heh. Thanks," the jinchuriki responded with a chuckle, "I do this a lot."

"So I can tell," Asuma laughed, turning heel so that he looked across the open ground once again. "You can cause a lot of damage with just a single blow… and not just to people."

"Yeah… which also turns out to be my biggest problem at the moment," Naruto said, scratching his head and letting out a weary sigh. "In more ways than one."

Getting the gist of one of his points, Asuma returned the youngster's statement with an understanding gaze and patted the boy on the shoulder. When he saw the teen look at him, the instructor began speaking again, "If you're concerned about a proper training space, then why not go out to the forests around the village? They have plenty of fields specifically reserved for shinobi and people wanting to work on their skills that doesn't have to involve the rest of the community. Maybe you'll be able to find a safe spot to work on your taijutsu there."

Considering the information for a moment, the jinchuriki gave a thoughtful facial tweak and a grin. "Hey… that's not a bad idea." He looked to the Jonin and smiled gratefully. "Thanks."

Now that he couldn't fight delinquents on the streets anymore, perhaps the woods and trees would be a much better substitute than the posts on the training ground, most of which weren't even fixed to the floor.

"Just some food for thought," Asuma responded, giving the kid another pat of acknowledgement and taking his leave. "Keep at it, kiddo."

It was then, as the jinchuriki was watching the adult vacate the area, he noticed there was also a woman in a trench coat standing on the footpath and watching them as well. After seeing the two adults leave for the main building and leave him to ponder over the new information given to him, Naruto looked to the training grounds for the second time that hour. He groaned when he got another decent view of the mess he'd made and scratched his head exhaustedly.

"Damn it. Next time I should think about what I'm doing before I start smacking things around."

This time he didn't.

It wasn't like he could help it though. Since he didn't want to fight during taijutsu practice, was forcing himself not to get into confrontations outside of school and was still having rotten luck trying to interact with the other kids, he was bored as hell.

However, not dawning on the issue for any longer than he had to, the jinchuriki then went around clearing up the field and fixing the fence as best as he could. He placed a few two-by-fours around the fence post when he bent it back into place so as to cover up most of the damage and to support it, before then heading to the main building for his next class once the bell sounded. On his way to homeroom, the youngster made a mental reminder to go check out the library before it closed so that he could find a map of the training fields on the edge of the village.

OOO

**That afternoon…**

When the bell for the end of school sounded and everyone had filtered out of the building, Naruto wasted no time in heading for his next destination. Taking the main road out of the administration part of town, the youngster began making his way to the center of the village where Konoha's public library was situated.

Upon reaching the facility and finding a map with directions to the supposed training areas suggested to him by the big Jonin that had approached him during lunch, the blonde quickly skimmed over the birds-eye-view shot of _Konohagakure_ for the fastest route from his place to the outskirts. Considering the other times of the day where he found himself in different parts of the village that wasn't his home, he eventually figured out a good spot around the North Westerly region of town he could come and go from as he pleased.

After that, he then vacated the public venue and headed over to _Ichiraku's Ramen_ for dinner with the only thoughts sticking in Naruto's head as he strolled down the road with his hands in his pockets was the stuff he was going to practice tomorrow.

Since he couldn't really work on technique without another partner, he figured he could concentrate on strength building material. Skills and form he could build up gradually over time once he figured out the best way to do that using logs and stuff he could find lying around the forest. He reasoned that focusing on developing his muscles and power would also be good at relieving some stress well out of range of prying eyes. Once he got this part of his daily routine figured, he could work on the rest of the stuff.

Maybe by then he would have improved his reputation enough to approach other people again.

Anyway, after buying himself three bowls of ramen and sating his hunger, he then made his way back to his apartment. It had been a long and boring day, with not much happening aside from the stuff on the training field. All he wanted to do at this point was hit the hay and wait out the night for early morning tomorrow where the real fun would start.

But just as he came within sight of his apartment and was ready to turn himself in, the jinchuriki suddenly sensed a familiar presence watching him from the sidelines and stopped in his tracks. His hood still pulled over his head, the blonde turned to look towards the nearby alleyway, where he saw the beige hair and form of a still slightly bandaged Yagura glaring at him from the wall with his arms folded. When the leader of the gang saw Naruto's own gaze lock onto him, the boy remained standing in place, completely composed, until the sound of the blonde's tongue clicking broke the monotony and he spoke towards his former antagonist.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood and decided to drop by to visit an acquaintance. Just for business," the academy dropout replied before lowering his head.

Naruto's gaze hardened, "Really?" He then glanced over his shoulder when he heard more footsteps behind him and spotted several other figures step out from nearby alleys. When the groups fell under the lights of the main street, he was able to make out the distinct symbols of the _Yagura Gang_ emblazed upon all of the newcomers as the platoon of teenagers came to surround him. This had the blonde's stare harden. "Ah. I'm guessing this is business of a personal nature. Got some itches you want to have scratched, huh… Yagura?" He then glared back at the teen in question.

He then saw the older teen approach him as well and come to stand in front of him. When they faced each other, both fighters had their hands in their pockets and serious glares in play.

The sight of the jinchuriki being surrounded by over twenty kids, all of them looking menacing in appearance, had other villagers quickly vacate the road and give them some space. For all they knew, another big fight was about to break out.

For the next minute or so Naruto stood there in silence facing the leader of the group that had picked on him since he was much younger. However, once a certain amount of time had passed and the certainty of a fight in the air had reached its highest point, the long haired Yagura then spoke up. "We're not here looking for trouble. As fun as it would be to get into another scrap with you, it's clear to all of us who would win in the end." He then smiled slightly at the jinchuriki. "I'm not going to lie… you have a really mean right straight."

Blinking at this admission, Naruto tilted his head and smirked, "The counter I threw when you came at me with that left shook you up quite a bit, huh?"

"That and the shots you started landing on me when you got my timing down," Yagura replied, wincing when he rubbed his still sore chin and rolled his shoulder. After settling the ache in his muscles, the gang leader then put on a frown and continued without missing a beat. "You're a strong kid, 'Wild Beast'. There's no arguing that."

The blonde glanced once at the group of teenagers behind him, all of them looking back at him warily and nervously, before he turned to face Yagura a second time. "As much as I appreciate the words of praise… why are you guys really here?"

Facing down the delinquent street fighter firmly and after taking in another deep breath, the leader of the gang stepped forward, "We're just here to make a peace treaty with you." Seeing the jinchuriki raise an eyebrow in confusion, Yagura proceeded to explain, "You're a strong and dangerous fighter… much stronger than any other drop out or street kid we've ever come across. The fact that you defeated me proves that. Not even a whole group of us stands a chance against you, and if anyone is stupid enough to try, they are paid dearly for it. So, just to make sure that neither one of us ends up getting ambushed or has to walk on thin ice around each other, I just want you to know that neither my gang nor I will be causing anymore problems for you."

Raising an eyebrow oddly at Yagura and looking him over, Naruto then glared back at the group behind him. When he did, he hit them all with a small wave of killing intent for extra reassurance, which had a bit of sweat break out on all their faces before they all stood at attention and bowed. Figuring this as a gesture of consent toward their leader's decision, the blonde once more turned to the abovementioned individual.

"Honest?"

Naruto blinked when he saw the boy's hand suddenly extend towards him.

Yagura smiled, "Honest."

Considering the offering being held out towards him, the jinchuriki thought about it for a good, long minute. Once he ran it through his head several times and thought about all of his options, he then took the hand in his and shook it. When the two boys gave the person across from them a reassuring nod and a look, they then broke apart, with Yagura stepping around the kid to return to his friends. Said blonde then proceeded to watch as the leader and his gang started making their way down the road, with the entire group quickly dispersing and disappearing from sight.

Staring after them over his shoulder for a minute longer, Naruto then breathed a sigh and moved on, an amused smile pulling across his lips.

"They better not have wrecked my apartment again… otherwise I'm going to hunt each and every one of them down and beat them to within an inch of their lives."

Fortunately for them, they didn't. That meant that Yagura's personal extension of good faith was genuine.

XXX

**The very next morning…**

Getting up after a very comfortable sleep, hours before he was officially scheduled to be anywhere that day, Naruto had his breakfast of oats and toast, threw on his standard hooded vest, as he'd slept in his regular clothes that entire night, before heading off to attend to some much needed business. Due to the afternoon he'd had beforehand and the fact that he couldn't really be bothered addressing the training field locations he'd collected from the library on the same day, he'd chosen to set the information aside for the night and work on it in the morning.

Before dawn could even break over Konoha's horizon, the youngster soon found himself running down the road to find his perfect workout spot. Over breakfast he'd had a chance to consider his routine for the day. After getting an eyeful of the material he'd managed to snag from the library and memorizing the roads, he was quick to finish the rest of his meal and rush out onto the streets en route to the edge of the village.

Making his way to the forests of Konoha where he remembered the fields were, the youngster quickly found a secluded spot inside the woods and got to work. This being the perfect area to wreck some stuff and not be disturbed for it, the blonde was certain to get a lot of recreational time out here, and since it was close to home he'd have no trouble going to and from there, and to school.

Positioning himself in the middle of the biggest clearing, the blonde went through some stretches. Once his body was limbered up and he was all good to go for the still dark and early morning ahead, he then took aim at one of the trees on the edge of the open space and smirked.

"Alright. I'm here. I'm all good to go. Let's give it a shot!"

However, just before he could throw himself right into his session, the sounds of branches snapping nearby had the blonde's eyes suddenly cut to the side and instinctively jump out of the way. He leapt from his place just in time to avoid a cluster of kunai that suddenly impaled the ground where he'd previously been standing, bursting the bubble that had previously been his belief that he would not be interrupted out here. Skidding away after his evasion, the boy clicked his tongue in annoyance and glared up towards the canopy where the weapons had come from.

"Who's there?!"

He was still inside the boundaries of his village, right? Sure, people have attacked him on the streets before, but who the hell would be throwing knives at him all the way out here?

Before he could inquire further into his attacker's identity, the person responsible for the attempted assassination decided right then and there to reveal themselves to the youngster. While the jinchuriki was scanning the canopy above him, a figure suddenly dropped down from the tree at the other end of the clearing. Landing and upon rising from a crouched position with leaves cascading all around them, the assassin appeared to the jinchuriki adorned in a full body, khaki cloak with a hood pulled over their head and concealing their face in shadow.

The second the person emerged, Naruto jumped to his feet and took a stance.

As soon as the boy raised his guard, the figure threw back the cloak and hurled another volley of kunai in his direction, which Naruto slipped around before the person eventually pulled out two of the knives, twirled them on their fingers and charged at the teen. Due to the sudden burst of speed and the zigzag path the person followed, Naruto became baffled when all he saw was a dark blur heading in his direction, which had him widen his eyes in alarm.

"_Holy shit! This guy's fast!"_ Ducking under the person's opening swing when they appeared directly in front of him the jinchuriki began weaving between strikes as his attacker slashed out at him with graceful yet lightning fast blows that cut the wind with every combination. The blades flashed through the air in an elaborate dance, with Naruto forced to make a hasty retreat while staying just a hair's breadth away from the knives and expertly slipping around the blows.

The cloaked figure struck out at him with amazing fury and speed, causing the blonde to recoil at every attempt he managed to slip under as he avoided another blow meant to separate his head from his body. Gritting his teeth, Naruto backed off again as fast as he could so as to get out from under his assailant, until he suddenly felt his body shudder to a stop.

Realizing to his surprise that he'd backed straight into a tree, Naruto spared it a momentary glance before looking ahead again. Seeing his foe come in with another downward strike to finish him off, the boy concluded right then and there that he was sick and tired of ducking and parried the attack, before catching the stabbing motion to follow.

Acting quickly, Naruto twisted the person's arm the wrong way, forcing them to relinquish their blade and disarmed them of one of their two kunai. Continuing to twist to either lock up the arm in his grip or break it, the jinchuriki then slipped under the person when they struck at him with their other arm. He went under them while they leapt over him in a spin, reversing their positions but also resulting in the attacker managing to twist their way out of the hand lock. When the assassin landed with both feet against the tree Naruto had previously been pinned against, they suddenly unbolted a kick right into the blonde's chest and sent him flying across the clearing, with a loud 'oof' escaping his lips.

Tumbling across the ground and stopping on all-fours, Naruto coughed up blood before glaring towards his enemy again. As soon as he did, he saw them rush across the grass towards him again, prompting him to hastily return to his feet, cross his arms over his face and block the elbow that plowed into him. This leading attack knocked him off his feet, but it wasn't enough to shake his focus from the opposition as he immediately parried a left hook to the side and a right kick, the attacks smashing him this way and that until he slid to a stop.

Hands still up, the jinchuriki began blocking and deflecting a series of quick punches and palm strikes. Deflecting the assault, he immediately countered with a right cross. But his opponent expertly slipped under it and stepped forward with a double palm strike with both hands to his chest, knocking him sliding away before the cloaked figure then spun at him with a side kick. The blow smashed into the boy's chest and sent him blasting off his feet into the tree behind him.

Slamming into the side of the trunk with an earsplitting 'crack', Naruto then dropped to the base of the tree and groaned. Blood dripping out of his mouth from the hits he'd taken, the jinchuriki shook it off and looked up again, where he saw the assassin rise up in the center of the clearing with their face still covered by their hood.

At first appearing infuriated from getting knocked around by his adversary, a more manic grin then formed on the blonde's face before he wiped the blood from his lips, smearing it across his jaw line like war paint.

"Oh, now isn't this interesting. I'm getting the shit kicked out of me by somebody who's the exact same height as me," Naruto whispered to himself before grinning excitedly. "There's no way that I'm going to let this fucking stand." He then pushed himself up so that he was sitting against the tree and brought both his arms up into a guard. Slowly, he gestured for his opponent to come at him. "You want some more of this? Bring it."

Seeing the mouth of the person underneath the veil frown, Naruto's eyes then widened when he saw the figure draw another set of kunai and hurl them at him in a quick swipe. The jinchuriki growled and, using his hand, smacked all of them out of the air by hitting them in the sides, knocking them to the ground before springing off of the tree with a yell.

When he rushed his opponent, the cloaked figure did the same thing and the two of them met in the center. Naruto opened up with a series of swinging hits, whereas his opponent blocked them before throwing palm strikes and hooks in his direction. The pair began trading blows at middle range, ducking or parrying the attacks so as to deflect the power of each other's strikes. Slipping around the blonde's hits, the hooded figure rushed in with a guard and forced his target to back off. Still swinging furiously, smacking his foe repeatedly in the arms, the jinchuriki felt himself backing up into another tree and took a step away for a setup.

Seizing the opportunity, his opponent charged in, ducking under two punches with a great deal of effort before spinning in with a side kick, which the blonde dodged and watched slam into the tree. The kick smashed a deep impression into the trunk, with Naruto moving away again to dodge a second jump kick coming from the other side, which also smashed a good chunk off of the trunk.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto moved around his foe and swung in with a hook, which the figure ducked around and threw a roundhouse kick at him in response. The blonde swayed under it and began backing off, throwing a few more punches and forcing his opponent to weave around them. When he did and ducked under another hit, the jinchuriki seized that opportunity, grabbed their head and kneed them in the stomach. The blonde then jumped up, wrapped both arms around the figure and repeatedly began kneeing them in the chest and face, his blows landing hard, fast and causing pained grunts to come off of his target. The two circled, the cloaked figure trying to push his enemy off, but Naruto pressed forward and sped up his assault.

He then jumped up with one more knee, but the cloaked figure managed to dislodge themselves from the blonde's hold and elbowed it back down. The masked adversary then swung a hook into the jinchuriki's face followed by another elbow, both of which Naruto guarded against yet forced him to step away. The second the enemy followed up with another kick, the delinquent ducked in and tackled them in the waist, causing a yelp to come from the figure as they were suddenly pushed violently across the ground. Not wanting to get knocked over, the hooded individual then jumped backwards and slammed both feet into the grass at an angle, forcing them to a cloudy stop and resulting in a wrestling match between the two.

Huffing angrily, Naruto then threw his head up, smashing the person in the chin from underneath and disorientating them before pulling them forward, dislodging the winded enemy from his position. As he pulled them along, the jinchuriki repeatedly kicked at the person's shins and ankles, knocking them off balance repeatedly at speed so they couldn't regain a foothold. As soon as he kicked his adversary's stance out, he grabbed their arm and, shouldering his way underneath them a second time, hoisted the person off the ground and threw them straight into the floor with a loud 'crack'.

Just as they were trying to get up, Naruto grabbed them by the collar and threw them over him again, sending them sprawling onto the floor while he expertly jumped to his feet. When they attempted to push themselves up a third time, the blonde stepped over to them, grabbed them by the scruff of their shoulder and arm and, with a loud yell of effort, shoulder tossed them straight into a fallen tree. He sent them hurling through the rotting trunk, causing splinters, chunks of wood and bark to explode in all directions on impact, with the cloaked figure crashing to the hard floor behind it and rolling onto their front.

Clearly damaged from being thrown around and kneed in the face, the figure looked up through a bruised face and clenched their teeth. Obviously pissed, they watched the blonde haired boy that was their target jump and skip around on the spot with his arms at his sides, a grin drawn upon his bloody face as he kept moving to keep his heart pumping and adversary confused.

"Well. Come on. Get up!" Naruto chuckled, holding a hand out and gesturing the assailant over. "What are you waiting for?"

Breathing hard, the cloaked figure then spat blood to the side before forcing themselves to their feet. Upon straightening up, the figure ripped the cloak from their person and threw it onto the wind. It was as soon as the veil was completely removed and the figure had unmasked themselves that Naruto got his second biggest surprise for that morning and looked up in shock at the person he'd been fighting.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa, hang on a second!" the jinchuriki said loudly, his jumping coasting to a stop and his hand being raised to point in disbelief. "Y-You're a girl?"

Damn. He never figured he'd been fighting a girl this entire time. Not only that, but it was somebody he'd never even seen before.

The stranger was about the same height and age as him, was tough looking, fair-skinned and cute. She had green eyes and waist-length, raven black hair with a hime-style cut tied into a high ponytail with short bangs and chin-length strands framing her face. She was also wearing a grey-colored, form-fitting uniform with a right shoulder-guard, grey gloves, black sandals, and an opening in her shirt with ninja mesh underneath.

She didn't wear any headband or identifying marks, but she was obviously trained in the art of the shinobi and incredibly strong from what the boy gathered on first contact.

The shock of her reveal held Naruto's attention for but a moment before his gaze reflected how impressed he really was.

"Whoa…" he mouthed when a grin formed on his face again. Wiping away the rest of the blood from his chin to look more presentable and his adversary doing the same, he assumed another fighting stance with both hands up and widened his feet. "You're obviously much stronger than anyone else I've fought before, even Sasuke and Yagura. Where've you been hiding this entire time?"

Blinking at the question, the girl then spoke in a fair and surprisingly level tone of voice, "In the forest."

Shrugging at the response, the jinchuriki then rolled his shoulder, "That's cool. As much as I would like to ask why you're here and why the hell you're attacking me out of nowhere, I'm more interested in finding out what else you've got to show me. It's been two weeks since my last fight and I've been dying for a good workout." He then ground his feet and set himself for round two, "Let's do this."

Nodding in understanding, the raven haired girl drew more kunai and threw them at him. Ducking right, Naruto responded by charging in, meeting the kunoichi in the center and colliding elbow to elbow. Both grabbing the other's wrist, with the blonde keeping his opponent's knife well away from him, the pair circled while exchanging blows, with the spiky haired jinchuriki slipping under her knife when she lashed at him and they separated. When the two got to a distance, they circled again when a gust of wind blew past them, sending leaves drifting across the clearing.

Twirling her blade, the kunoichi tossed it at her opponent, seeing him smack it out of the air from the side and lunge in. The pair once again engaged in a furious exchange of attacks, the blonde hooking and punching out at her while she slipped and countered with palm strikes and kicks. The jinchuriki blocked her shots and came in with more compact blows, forcing his opponent to continue dodging before eventually back flipping away for distance. He pursued her.

Reaching a tree, the girl flipped onto it and pushed off, leaping over her foe and slashing down at him with a knife. The jinchuriki swayed under her and countered with an upward kick, managing to smack her in the arm and send her overshooting her mark. The attacker managed to right herself in midair, and upon making landfall dashed in at him. She lashed out with her knife, cutting the air repeatedly until she stabbed in, only for her opponent to counter by catching her wrist and forcing it out. He then turned into her, shoving her front up against his back, before he drove an elbow into her stomach and then into her face… hard.

The two blows knocking her stumbling, the jinchuriki then spiraled towards the kunoichi and kicked her in the face, sending the girl sliding across the ground with blood flying from her mouth. Knocking up dust and blades of grass, the raven haired assassin managed to stop herself and growled. In a fit of frustration, she charged, slashing at her opponent on a pass and getting him to duck and counter with a quick body shot to her side that had her stagger away.

Seeing her disoriented, Naruto charged in with a left hook, forcing the girl to dodge and slam into a tree. Once she was set up, the boy let out a yell and threw a roundhouse kick at her, only for his attack to slam into the tree and cut right through it, taking a decent chunk out of its side.

In a shower of dust and splinters, the jinchuriki turned away from the object he'd attacked and spotted his opponent moving away with a look of shock drawn across her face, which brought another grin to the blonde who reset his stance.

"Against somebody like you, there's no way I'm holding back."

Yeah. If he let up for even a second against this chick, the girl would kill him without the slightest bit of hesitation.

She was bloody accurate with those kunai of hers and if ordinary taijutsu wasn't going to throw her off, then the blonde was going to break through a lot more tree trunks if their fight went further into the forest.

Frown reappearing upon seeing her target take another stance and begin shifting on the spot, the raven haired girl responded by cocking back her fist and rushing forward. Her opponent braced himself for another engagement, only for his eyes to widen in panic when he sensed something dangerous approaching on the wind and he dropped his guard.

Spotting the opening, the kunoichi went for it, her fist suddenly becoming enveloped in a sheath of misty, white light, before she thrust her attack forward with all fingers extended.

"_**Nadeshiko-Ryū Kōha Reppūken!"**_ (Nadeshiko-Style Hardliner Gale Fist) the girl shouted before plowing her attack forward in a swift straight, like a spear.

Unwilling to counter it due to the uncertainty of facing the attack, Naruto slipped out of the way and dodged the blow. The second he did so and found himself on the inside of his opponent's defensive circle, a sonic boom echoed out before a shockwave ripped apart the entire area around and in front of the kunoichi. The jinchuriki let out a yell of surprise when he was hit by the invisible force of the explosion blasting off of her person and sent barreling painfully across the clearing, where he eventually stopped in time several meters out to watch the girl blast several fissures around her and fell five trees standing directly in her path.

The sight of the solid oak trunks exploding into clouds of splinters had Naruto gawking until a grin spread across his face.

"Fuck me. If I was standing in line of that attack she would have disintegrated me."

Spinning around when she realized her opponent had barely avoided the attack, the kunoichi narrowed her eyes on him again and set herself up for another charge.

"This next one will end this," she said declaratively, her knuckles of her right fist cracking as they tightened.

Knowing she was going to attack him again, possibly with the exact same technique that she used to wipe out an entire area of forest inside of an enormous crater, the jinchuriki sprang back up and set his form into another stance. Ignoring the bruises he'd received from his flight and the fact his body looked like it had been used to plough a field of turnips, Naruto faced off against his adversary bravely as she flexed her right fist and readied for a second attack.

Unwilling to be at the receiving end of that straight, especially after seeing exactly what it was capable of, the jinchuriki began counting down the seconds till their next and final engagement.

In the deafening silence that followed, nothing critical or attention grabbing took place as the two fighters readied themselves, until the sound of a bird chirping and taking off from a nearby shrub gave them the green light and the two ninja in training exploded into action.

Launching himself from his spot, Naruto dashed towards the kunoichi as she too advanced upon him. Both meeting in the center of the clearing under the breaking rays of light from the canopy above, the two of them eventually slid in and uncorked their attacks.

The jinchuriki however lingered in his counter for but a millisecond, his eyes narrowing dangerously when he saw the kunoichi's corked back hand eventually come flying around from behind her._ "The path of her attack is incredibly direct and she swings in with a twisting shot. She doesn't have to fear counters coming in from either side of her when she executes her jutsu because the shockwave it generates disturbs the air and deflects anything that tries to hit her from the sides after she throws it. That's a really dangerous technique."_

"_However…"_

Fingers outstretched and hand glowing again, the rogue kunoichi let out a battle cry and lunged forward, intent on cutting her opponent down once and for all._** "Kōha Reppūken!"**_ Her shot came in wild, hard and fast.

His left fist clenching, the jinchuriki's senses honed from years of fighting against an onslaught of strong opponents analyzed his opponent's motion and, in that exact instant, led him to an instinctive response.

"_There's a moment when her swing is too wide!"_

Directly under her arm while it was extending!

"_RIGHT THERE!"_

Then… it happened.

When the kunoichi struck out Naruto's fist connected with a loud crunching sound against her ribs, the blonde managing to slide directly under her stretching limb when it fully extended. The kunoichi's eyes widened in shock when bolts of pain suddenly shot through her like lightning, a split second before she choked up blood and the sonic boom from her attack exploded forward, ripping apart the ground around them like confetti. Both fighters braced themselves against the shockwaves bouncing off of their bodies from their simultaneous hits connecting, before the explosion that occurred seconds afterwards sent both of them flying away.

A massive crater was punched into the earth at the center of the exchange at the exact same time the two rocketed out of range. The kunoichi barreled across the ground the moment Naruto did, before they both stopped on opposite sides of the clearing as it was literally decimated from their final exchange.

The earth trembled violently and startled birds from their roosts, the shockwaves lasting for a total of five seconds before it all inevitably ended.

As a result of the impressive jutsu going off, not only had an enormous fissure been torn into the floor, leaving an impressive landmark in the middle of that part of the village's surrounding forests, but several more trees had also collapsed and the entire area lay in ruin. Every single animal that had been in the region had been scared off, most notably the birds, as nobody in their right of mind would want to get caught up in whatever the hell had taken place down in the small field.

With the dust from the attacks settling over the grounds, life slowly returned to the participants.

At first lying motionless where they had crashed, the two adversaries slowly twitched back into consciousness. Limbs numb and blood dripping out of their mouths and down their faces from their heads, the two bruised and battered contestants stood up from the ground. Shaking as they righted themselves and panting heavily, the youngsters then glared hard across the field at the person they had come to blows with.

Both exhausted from the fierce battle that had ensued, the pair locked gazes with one another. As they stood there, with the kunoichi holding her side where she had cracked ribs and the blonde nursing a dislocated shoulder, the duo couldn't help but offer their appraisal of the other.

"_His fighting sense is incredible and his physical strength is far greater than his appearance suggests,"_ the girl thought in astonishment while at the same time gulping in air. _"Though he lacks significant ninjutsu prowess, he relies solely on his taijutsu and raw power to overwhelm his adversaries. However, what's even more phenomenal than that is his sense for counterattacking. He was able to spot a fatal flaw in my jutsu and went right for it the second I executed it, even with such a small gap to use."_ It was unreal. No opponent she'd fought before had ever attempted something as daring as that, nor had they been sharp enough to spot and exploit such a glaring weakness.

At the same time the kunoichi performed her assessment, her blonde haired adversary was doing the exact same thing to her.

"_She's really smart and she's deadly accurate with her shuriken. But what amazes me most is how nimble she is,"_ Naruto thought while narrowing his eyes and holding onto his shoulder tightly. _"I'm pretty damn fast in combat, much faster than anyone else in my age group, but this girl is able to go toe to toe with me on open ground and uses a very efficient and clear-cut fighting style. She combines the grace of her form with overwhelming speed and a sense of fierceness that allows her to utilize the battlefield more effectively; an incredibly nasty combination."_ He then smirked as he thought on it some more._ "I've adjusted for her style, but combined with her ninjutsu it makes her a much more troublesome enemy to deal with. She's powerful."_

When the pair finished catching their breaths and making assessments on the opposition, they then began making plans for a second engagement and a third round. Setting themselves into stances, they prepared to run at each other again, only to stop and rethink their situations.

As if mirroring each other's thoughts, their eyes panned down and they tested the condition of their bodies.

The girl was sporting cracked ribs and could barely lift her arm up, her chakra was running thin and she was bruised badly from the beating she'd taken thus far. Naruto too was unable to move his arm at all from that last hit and was feeling equally beaten up. He was nursing a nasty head wound on top of his screaming muscles, was bleeding like his opponent, and if he was assessing his vision correctly he also seeing triple.

Seeing as that they were both exhausted and in no way able to carry on a fight, the pair eventually turned to look at each other again with firm gazes in play.

"Truce?" the kunoichi asked.

"Truce," Naruto nodded in agreement before a grin formed on his face again, "Until next time?"

Throwing him a smirk of her own and nodding her answer, the raven haired kunoichi took off, picking up her cloak on the way out of the clearing and vanishing into the canopy high above. Cascading leaves were the only thing she left behind when she disappeared from the scene, leaving the blonde haired youngster staring at an empty space and a ruined ring.

For several seconds he remained in place staring in the direction his opponent had previously been in. After a moment of standing there and looking into the woods, the blonde staggered away and sighed. Testing his arm for a moment, he quickly wedged it between his legs and with a quick tug and pull he snapped it back into place. With his dislocated joint back where it's supposed to be, the jinchuriki let out a pained groan and straightened up, rolling his arm and shoulder to rid himself of the tension.

"Damn… that girl packed a wallop," Naruto chuckled while shaking his head, "She was amazing." Yeah. His body was still feeling the sting of how fantastic she was.

Rolling his head around and testing his sight again, the jinchuriki smirked before starting to limp out of the clearing with his hand massaging his shoulder. Though he didn't know who that girl was or why she had attacked him from out of the blue like that, the one thing that stuck out in the jinchuriki's mind at that very moment was that he hadn't had so much fun in a long time.

He wanted to fight her again…

Right after he got some tablets for the wicked migraine he now had from the two shockwaves going off right in his face.

OOO

**Meanwhile…**

Upon managing to put a significant amount of distance between herself and her opponent, landing on a tree further into the thick of Konoha's woods the raven haired kunoichi stopped and glanced over her shoulder, and back towards the clearing she'd left far behind.

Holding her position for the moment, the girl quickly thought back to the fight she'd just had and the boy she'd met while she'd been exploring the outer areas of the village she was 'visiting'. Even though the match had clearly been a brutal one, and one that had left her bruised and bleeding, and had forced her to fight at her absolute best, there was no doubt in her mind that she'd found something incredible; a boy her age and in her exact class that could go toe to toe with her.

Of the many she'd challenged in her travels across the continent and the many matches she'd fought with shinobi in the same league as her, this one had proven to be the toughest of them all.

Simply remembering the blonde's face brought an excited smile to her lips.

"_This isn't over."_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**Author's Note:** And that's chapter two, everyone. Hope you enjoyed it.

Question of the day, who is the girl that attacked Naruto?


End file.
